Daily Devotional
Genesis 16:2-3 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
We may sometimes get in our own way by taking actions that go contrary to God’s plan for our lives. Israel got in their own way in Numbers 13 and 14 by allowing doubt and fear to stop them from going forward to possess the land that God had promised, the first time around. The result was that they spent an additional 38 years in the wilderness, which never needed to be the case.
Another instance of the people of God getting in their own way was in Genesis 16:2-3. In the previous chapter God had told Abraham that his seed shall be like the stars in heaven, and they will possess the land of Canaan. However, the reality of his situation is that his wife was barren and of old age. Sarah decided to take matters in her own hand and suggested to Abraham that he marry his Egyptian servant, Hagar with a view for her to produce children with Abraham on her behalf. What she did not realize was that what she was doing was getting in her own way. The first thing that happened was that when Hagar conceived Ishmael, she started to treat Sarah with disrespect to the point that Sarah dealt harshly with her and she ran away. After Hagar returned and submitted herself to Sarah she gave birth to Ishmael who was years later seen mocking Isaac after he was weaned. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back and Sarah asked Abraham to send away both Hagar and Ishmael. The descendants of Ismael became enemies of Israel who showed hostility towards them.
From the aforementioned two stories, there are two things that may happen when we get in our own way. Firstly, we may delay ourselves from receiving what God had promised, even as the Israelites did. In addition, we may create unwanted situations for ourselves like what Sarah did when she gave her servant to be the wife of Abraham.
Life Application: Get out of your way by choosing to take action that is consistent with the word of God.
Prayer: Lord, help me to trust in you at all times and not lean on my own understanding. Help me to wait on you at all times. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Daily Devotional 
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